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Thursday, December 04, 2008

It's just hair!!!

I'm amazed how many people freaked out when I put in the dreads and then later when I cut them off. Most comments implied that it all meant something. Can't a guy just have long hair or short hair without it being about subversion or complicity with the system? Can't a guy wear a tie without people asking him if he has a job interview? O.K. who am I kidding. I don't really have a tie and I'd have hair 6 feet long if I wasn't going bald. Speaking of subversion, I'm reading a fantastic book right now... "Teaching as a Subversive Activity" (Postman/Weingartner 1968)... one of my dad's old books which found a home in my library. Their focus was on the problems if the US education system as it entered a new era, and a call for inquiry-based learning. What's amazing is that the "charges" they level against the education system of the 1960s, the slow response to change, the teacher-knows-best attitude, and the factory system of classrooms, could be used effectively today with very little change in syntax or semantics, although I think many modern proponents have hijacked inquiry-based learning for privatization agendas. I am reading it slowly (nothing new there) because it poses many challenges to my teaching practice which are not easy to resolve. Like the dreadlocks, my thoughts are bound tight and hard to work with, but also provide some joy, interest, and concern to others. There's the meaning you can take from my hair.

(above)childish... i agree with what you stated about people looking to far into anything. i started dreads and my family is against it. mostly because i am white?? i told them to me its a life style change. i think people just dont like change and make any excuse to tell you why not to do something. i enjoy peace and people can be haters. that's why we must ignore them and enjoy our life to its fullest at all times.yolo.